Ruth sporting news psa 4 rookie in REA

[griffon512]

some previous posters have alluded to this, but i think the debate boils down to the REA PSA 4 Ruth having poor eye appeal relative to comps in the view of most auction bidders. don't get me wrong, it's a tremendous card and i would love to go back in time with the foresight to buy it 5 years ago...but the greatest foresight would have been to go back in time and buy only high eye appeal rookie or early year cards of iconic players.

absent any major flaws, the biggest drivers of attractiveness of a card are centering and image quality. both have gotten progressively more important recently, where the premiums on high eye appeal and discounts on low eye appeal are more pronounced. we see examples of this all over the place in recent auctions of high end cards. e.g., look at the premiums t206 cobbs are getting with strong centering and registration. same goes for ruth goudeys, and countless other high end cards. on the flip side, a poorly centered mantle psa 6 rookie went for ~$9,900 in lelands (https://lelands.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=84399), probably $5k less than what a well centered example would have gotten. obviously the higher dollar value the card is, the bigger the $ impact is going to be for high eye appeal vs. low eye appeal.

unlike some post-war iconic players, i don't see any consistent signs of a slowdown in prices in mid-range and high-end ruth cards that have high eye appeal currently. it's the opposite. in addition i think this higher premium/discount on eye appeal will continue, because it's become accepted practice by collectors and investors to not let vcp or smr dictate prices when eye appeal in both directions deviates greatly from the norm. high eye appeal is a way that the hobby has created greater scarcity value in the same way a third party grade has in the past, and i think that trend is here to stay!

[Vintageclout]

Originally Posted by griffon512

some previous posters have alluded to this, but i think the debate boils down to the REA PSA 4 Ruth having poor eye appeal relative to comps in the view of most auction bidders. don't get me wrong, it's a tremendous card and i would love to go back in time with the foresight to buy it 5 years ago...but the greatest foresight would have been to go back in time and buy only high eye appeal rookie or early year cards of iconic players.

absent any major flaws, the biggest drivers of attractiveness of a card are centering and image quality. both have gotten progressively more important recently, where the premiums on high eye appeal and discounts on low eye appeal are more pronounced. we see examples of this all over the place in recent auctions of high end cards. e.g., look at the premiums t206 cobbs are getting with strong centering and registration. same goes for ruth goudeys, and countless other high end cards. on the flip side, a poorly centered mantle psa 6 rookie went for ~$9,900 in lelands (https://lelands.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=84399), probably $5k less than what a well centered example would have gotten. obviously the higher dollar value the card is, the bigger the $ impact is going to be for high eye appeal vs. low eye appeal.

unlike some post-war iconic players, i don't see any consistent signs of a slowdown in prices in mid-range and high-end ruth cards that have high eye appeal currently. it's the opposite. in addition i think this higher premium/discount on eye appeal will continue, because it's become accepted practice by collectors and investors to not let vcp or smr dictate prices when eye appeal in both directions deviates greatly from the norm. high eye appeal is a way that the hobby has created greater scarcity value in the same way a third party grade has in the past, and i think that trend is here to stay!

+1 - I couldn't agree more Jim. I've always stated that for iconic cards, exceptional centering can drive a premium 25% - 50%+ (especially for the Ruth Rookie and '51 Bowman/'52 Topps Mantles). While many technical attributes impact a card's value such as creasing, corners, color, surface issues, etc., it certainly seems the most significant positive pricing driver is a card portraying close to 50/50 centering.

Joe T.

[MattyC]

Well said, Joe and James.

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by griffon512

high eye appeal is a way that the hobby has created greater scarcity value in the same way a third party grade has in the past, and i think that trend is here to stay!

I think this is a very astute point.

Generally speaking, the hobby ascribes great value to scarity. We love to spend money on cards with low pops. But what if you could quantify the % of perfectly centered/registered examples of a particular issue? My gut says that the pop of these cards, at any grade, would be incredibly low. I’ve probably seen 90% of the publicly traded Red Cobb portraits sold in the last five years, and I’ve seen more cards with a Ty Cobb back than I have seen perfectly centered/registered versions (with any back). Clearly, this is both subjective and anecdotal, but my sense is that cards that were perfectly printed and cut at the factory make up a smaller population than we give them credit for, and that should keep premiums healthy.

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

I think this is a very astute point.

what if you could quantify the % of perfectly centered/registered examples of a particular issue?

Well said. I try to do just that with the cards I collect. Very early on it struck me that while I could pick from many 1952 Topps Mickey Mantles, I could not find any that were dead centered. To date I have only come across a literal handful that I'd call dead centered to the eye, across all grades. Of course many other classic cards have similar situations, and their focused/centered specimens are always hotly contested when they surface.

[Vintageclout]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Well said. I try to do just that with the cards I collect. Very early on it struck me that while I could pick from many 1952 Topps Mickey Mantles, I could not find any that were dead centered. To date I have only come across a literal handful that I'd call dead centered to the eye, across all grades. Of course many other classic cards have similar situations, and their focused/centered specimens are always hotly contested when they surface.

I remember when you grabbed that Mantle Matt, and to this day, I’ve never seen one with better centering. It’s perfect! Same issue with the Ruth Rookie. Try finding one that has nearly perfect centering....virtually impossible. Even the REA one that just sold somewhat favored the upper edge. When you find these cards with 45/55 to 50:50 centering all around, expect to pay stratospheric pricing.

[oldjudge]

Ruth can come with good centering.

[Vintageclout]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Ruth can come with good centering.

Stop bragging Jay....LOL! FYI, I also own a very nice centered 3.5. Tough to find. All kidding aside, your card is awesome Jay.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Ruth can come with good centering.

Nice card, Jay!!

[ValKehl]

Sam, you said, "Generally speaking, the hobby ascribes great value to scarity." IMHO, this is true ONLY for scarce cards in the popularly-collected sets.

[Jdoggs]

Originally Posted by griffon512

unlike some post-war iconic players, i don't see any consistent signs of a slowdown in prices in mid-range and high-end ruth cards that have high eye appeal currently. it's the opposite. in addition i think this higher premium/discount on eye appeal will continue, because it's become accepted practice by collectors and investors to not let vcp or smr dictate prices when eye appeal in both directions deviates greatly from the norm. high eye appeal is a way that the hobby has created greater scarcity value in the same way a third party grade has in the past, and i think that trend is here to stay!

I concur!